The subject matter disclosed and claimed herein relates to methods for monitoring the biological response to IL-13 or IL-13 therapy using novel biomarkers for IL-13. This disclosure presents evidence that a panel of genes can be used as biomarkers in IL-13 studies for inflammatory disorders such as asthma, emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and may also play a role in other lung disorders with an inflammatory component. Of the panel of potential biomarkers described above, WNT5A and MPIF-1 (CCL23) have not been previously reported to be regulated by IL-13. These are novel IL-13 related biomarkers, which can be useful in any disease where IL-13 plays a major role.
Biomarkers can play a key role in identifying responders and non-responders to therapy and thereby lead to the development of more effective therapies. A number of studies have been described where microarray platform has been used to identify asthma and other inflammatory related signature genes.
The relevance of these genes to disease is very important for them to be effective biomarkers. To that end a number of the genes have been linked to diseases where IL-13 is believed to play a role. Increased level of TARC has been reported in serum and induced sputum of asthmatics (Sekiya, et al (2002), Allergy 57(2): 173-177.), plasma of children during asthma exacerbation (Leung et al., (2003), Eur. Respir J 21(4): 616-620.) and serum of patients with atopic dermatitis (Hijnen, et al., (2004), Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 113(2): 334-340). This provides evidence that TARC might be involved in the pathogenesis of such disorders. Eotaxin 3 gene expression has been shown to be upregulated in bronchial biopsies of asthmatics after allergen challenge implying that Eotaxin 3 may be important in late-phase eosinophil recruitment to the airways of asthmatics (Berkman, et al. (2001), Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. 24(6): 682-687). Also, CCL22 was shown to be up regulated in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) after a segmental allergen challenge of asthmatics (Pilette, et al. (2004), Eur Respir J 23(6): 876-884). Additionally, recent reports using murine models of allergic asthma have shown that the Th2 type cytokine IL-13 may play a critical role in the pathogenesis of asthma, either by regulating airway inflammation, mucus hyper-secretion or airway hyper-responsiveness thus making it an attractive target for therapeutic intervention.
The present invention provides a new approach to monitoring anti-IL13 therapy by detecting one or more biomarkers of IL-13, and IL-13 bioactivity. Described herein is a panel of potential biomarkers, associated with IL-13 biology, which can be useful in an anti-IL-13 clinical trial or for monitoring therapy using methods well known in the art. The panel of biomarkers can be used as a tool to monitor the efficacy of an anti-IL-13 therapeutic such as an IL-13 antagonist such as a small molecule or a biologic, and provide valuable information in terms of dosing amount and frequency.